These days, the social networking sites online seem to be full of uploaded
photos and videos of paintings by elephants, and a large number of recent
charity fashion shows in Chiang Mai have featured some really great frocks
created with silks painted by the same undoubtedly highly talented beasts.
The entire world and its tourist aunt, it seems, wants to own an example of
artistic prowess by an elephant Picasso! Given the progression of styles in
modern art, some of the paintings attributed to elephants should surely be
hanging in London’s Tate Gallery, possibly in the same room as the stuffed
sheep, the used bed and the pile of bricks so beloved of art critics.
Elephant painting has even made it to the movies; a recent children’s film
shot here in Chiang Mai featured a Hi-So western art gallery owner choosing,
for his latest gallery exhibition, an elephant’s painting over a selection
of paintings by talented humans!
Some of us, however, may have wondered how this all started, and how a
jungle creature, however amazing, could do what humans often find difficult!
Some while ago, a highly regarded UK zoologist, Desmond Morris, having been
shown an online video of an elephant in artistic mode, decided to check this
out on a visit to Thailand. The results of his research were interesting, to
say the least.
Morris was not unfamiliar with the artistic talents of chimpanzees, having
conducted a previous study on just this subject. He found, however, that
although chimps have a way of expressing themselves in linear art, varying
patterns of lines from picture to picture, paintings representative of
objects were completely beyond them. Hence his amazement when shown the
video of a Thai elephant painting (apparently unaided except for a mahout
who loaded and changed the brushes) a picture of an elephant holding a
flower in its trunk!
Morris’s chosen research destination was the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden, a
recreational tourist attraction in the Pattaya area. Daily elephant displays
are held, and the zoologist was impressed by the care taken of the elephants
by their individual mahouts, who were clearly devoted to their own personal
pachyderms. The performances themselves concentrated on the skills of the
giant beasts, rather that presenting a ‘circus’ act, with part of the show
devoted to the painting skills of 3 young female elephants.
First, heavy easels with large white cards firmly attached were placed in
front of the elephants, each of whom was given a brush loaded with paint,
which her mahout pushed gently into the end of her trunk. The mahouts placed
themselves to one side of their elephants’ heads, and watched as they began
to paint. The empty brushes were replaced with others by the mahouts; this
continued until the paintings were finished, at which point the elephants
bowed their heads to the audience and received a reward of bananas. The
paintings, removed from their frames, were, as usual, sold to members of the
amazed audience.
Morris, however, having watched very carefully every aspect of the
procedure, noted the actions of the mahouts as well as those of the
elephants. Every time an elephant made a mark on the card, the mahout tugged
at the elephant’s ear, moving it up and down for a vertical line, sideways
for a horizontal line and forward for a blob. Morris also noted that each
individual elephant produced exactly the same individual picture at every
show, a set routine guided by the mahout. A bunch of flowers, a tree, a
plant; each reproduced exactly by the elephant whose mahout had designed the
picture.
It seems, therefore, that these wonderful animals are, sadly, not creative
artists in their own right – BUT, what muscular sensitivity and intelligence
they show in translating tiny movements into instructions to place, with
great delicacy and precision, the lines and marks on the card! Their
paintings, even if not designed by the elephants themselves, should remind
all of us that the wonder of the world of nature is to be respected and
cherished.

The H3N8 flu virus – a new threat?

Yet another new strain of flu virus is hitting the headlines…at least in
the US. Initially it caused panic, but now it is clear that it has
killed relatively few victims - many of whom have pre-existent
underlying conditions, and particularly if the sufferer is the possessor
of a pushed-in nose – a Pekinese, a Pug, or a Shi-Tzu! Yes, the
colloquial name for the H3N8 virus is ‘dog flu’ and, at least so far,
it’s confined to man’s, (and woman’s), best friend.
The US department of agriculture has been taking it seriously since it
jumped from horses to dogs some 5 years ago, with approval given by that
august body last week for the release of the first available vaccine.
Oddly, the virus is concentrated in only several areas of that vast
country, Florida, the northern suburbs of New York City, Philadelphia
and Denver, and is baffling virologists as a result. One University of
Florida veterinarian states that current wisdom is that no-one knows
what H3N8 is going to do next.
The virus manifests itself as a pneumonia-like illness, which was first
noticed when a third of the greyhounds at a Florida dog track suddenly
died. It is easily transmitted, by contact or even the sharing of a
water bowl, with scientists at first fearing that it would become a
major killer of up to 10% of the USA’s dog population. So far, 5 % of
dogs who are infected do, in fact, die. Sadly, to stop its spread, if a
dog shelter finds the virus, it is usually eliminated by killing all the
dogs and disinfecting the cages and grounds.
The virus, discovered in horses 40 years ago, seems to not yet be
especially well adapted to dogs, having taken at least 5 mutations to
jump from its original hosts and seems to need a certain density of dogs
to keep it going. However, if more mutations occur, the issue could
become serious.
Here in Thailand, with its huge population of street dogs, its
accidental transportation from the USA could prove to be a real threat.

Human traffickers to face new Asian cross-border detection protocols

CMM reportersDuring a recent conference and seminar
held in Sydney, Australia, members of security
forces from across Asia agreed to tackle the
worsening situation of human trafficking,
particularly of women, in the area by acting
multilaterally.
A previous study had determined that the human
trafficking trade, particularly in young women
and girls, was far more sophisticated than had
previously been suspected, and that the majority
of victims smuggled into Australia were women
from South East Asia. As a result, a new and
more effective approach focused on regional
cooperation is being introduced.
Increased regional cross-border sharing of
information, with intelligence being held at a
central location, should aid in the
identification of modes of operation leading to
the discovery of individual facilitators and
gangs. An overview of the operations of
syndicates of people smugglers is more difficult
if each country works on its own, according to
Commander Ramzi Jabbour of the Australian
police, who have set up a dedicated unit to
investigate allegations of human trafficking.
Many women in Thailand become victims of
trafficking through violence or coercion, being
duped into believing they are travelling to a
new country to become legal workers in various
trades. Once there, they are forced into the sex
industry, and held hostage for years until they
have paid off the huge debts incurred for their
journeys.
Successful prosecutions of the criminal gangs
responsible are rare; however, due to the agreed
initiative, it is hoped that the rate of
detection, arrest and imprisonment will improve
considerably.

Opinion

The results of a recent poll undertaken across
17 Thai provinces drew my attention earlier this
week to a much-discussed syndrome which pervades
politics and other areas of life worldwide…
corruption.
The poll in question involved 1,228 households,
(please note, households, not people), from 17
provinces. That’s an average of 72 households
per province…rather fewer, in these days of
internet polls, than might possibly constitute a
consensus. Even given the propensity in rural
areas of large families crammed into one
building, and considering the size of, say,
Bangkok’s population alone, it would seem that a
‘result’ would be difficult to determine,
especially as polls are usually intended,
(aren’t they?), to represent the opinion of a
cross-section of society.
The headline relating to the results of the poll
reads as follows: ‘Thais OK with corrupt
government’. Interesting. The text following
suggests that 51% of ‘Thais’ are happy for their
government to continue, (as are many other
governments worldwide, including some that you,
dear readers, may well have fled from), in the
time-honoured manner, as long as they, the
citizens, are doing OK! Oddly enough, the Thais
I’m privileged to know don’t seem to share this
opinion. Neither do UK friends feel the same
about governmental behaviour in our ex-country,
which, corruption-wise, is going to hell in a
handcart right now, with MPs who felt free to
claim everything, (including their mistresses),
on expenses facing possible trial and
imprisonment! Not to mention the recent ‘cash
for peerages’ scandal, out of which a certain
ex-PM, (one of ours this time), wriggled rather
neatly.
In the days when I logged on regularly to Thai
Visa’s Chiang Mai forum, (far too boring these
days so visited far less frequently), I used to
rather enjoy the rants about corruption…which
always seemed to ignore the fact that this
undesirable practice is not confined to Thailand
alone. Guess it’s another one of those ‘glass
half full versus glass half empty’
scenarios…although at times I did suspect that
some posters’ glasses may have been regularly
rather more than half full, at least for as long
as it took to drain them! Joking aside, serious
corruption, wherever it occurs in this wide and
diverse world, tends to corrupt absolutely, as
does absolute power. Put the two together and
you have a very messy problem, which can well
result in absolutely no-one doing ‘OK’, even
those who are in the mire up to their Swiss bank
accounts. And, yes, this brings us back to the
most blatant current example of the ‘C’ word -
to Burma – again.
Many readers may remember the televised reports
of a certain wedding…that of a daughter of the
Junta leader. A wedding that reputedly cost more
than Burma’s annual National Health budget.
Personally, I hadn’t seen so many diamonds
around a single neck since I visited an
exhibition of the British Crown Jewels, many
years ago.
The fabulous jewels the bride was wearing,
somewhat tastelessly, all at once, were
apparently wedding gifts. Lucky lass, to be so
popular with so many filthy-rich multi-
millionaires, one might have thought. Think
again! The perfect example, right next door to
Chiang Mai, splashed on the world’s TV screens
and all over the internet as well, of total,
concentrated, absolute power and corruption,
while outside the closed city’s walls, a nation
suffers and starves. And yet, some years later,
a Thai prime minister, one of a good few
recently, comes back from a visit to that same
city, smiling happily and stating, ‘It’s OK,
guys, Junta members meditate and pray to
Buddha’. Yeah, right.
However, both the international community and
the ASEAN worm seem to be turning as regards
that sad country and its sick leaders – if said
leaders have to turn to the likes of North Korea
for friendship and support, not to mention
weapons of mass destruction, (for real this
time), retribution of some kind can’t,
hopefully, be far behind. In 1997, when Burma
was allowed to join the ASEAN community, it’s
unlikely that the rest of the member countries
were clairvoyant enough to realise exactly how
much international condemnation would result
from that decision. The situation in Burma has
since deteriorated to an impossible degree;
recent world reaction, including, importantly,
delicately worded comment from China itself,
(how very Chinese…) seems to indicate that
something, somewhere is ready to snap.
In 2015, the ASEAN member nations will finally
establish a union similar to the European Union
in the west. If drastic measures have not been
taken to bring freedom and true democracy to the
struggling Burmese people by then, ASEAN may
find itself holding a poisoned chalice which
will prove impossible to put down.
Finally, for those originating from the other
side of the pond, please be aware that the
European Union’s headquarters in Brussels are
considered to be a worse sink of (yes, you’ve
got it), corruption, than even the UN’s
headquarters in New York! Way to go, guys, we
can’t change the world!